The present invention relates to a windsurfer.
A windsurfer, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,487,800 of Schweitzer, has a surfboard body adapted to float in the water and having a generally flat upper surface. The lower surface of the body is provided with a fixed or removable daggerboard and the upper surface is provided adjacent the front end with a socket for a universal joint carried on the base of a mast. A sail carried on this mast is held within a double-bow boom, with the universal joint constituting the only connection between the mast and the board. A user of such a device stands on the upper surface to the weather side of the sail and holds the respective bow of the boom in his or her two hands, while leaning into the wind. With such a device it is therefore possible to combine the sports of surfing and sailing.
A disadvantage of these known structures is that it is often necessary to move well off the water's edge in order to find winds strong enough to permit sailing. Furthermore it is also frequently necessary when becalmed to painstakingly paddle the entire apparatus back to the water's edge. Such propelling of the known windsurfers through the water manually is a relatively uncomfortable operation, compounded by the fact that it is necessary to hold the mast, sail and boom while doing so. Furthermore the device occasionally is damaged or wind becomes so strong that it is impossible to use the wind to propel it, so that once again the user must uncomfortably paddle back to the shore or abandon his or her expensive sporting equipment.